Getting Paid (or Not): Professional Fee Issues

Professional fee issues are always important, both to those who represent estates and those who do not (but sometimes object to the fees of those who do). This panel discusses the implications of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Baker Botts v. ASARCO, in which the Court answered an intriguing question some bankruptcy lawyers did not realize had been asked: whether counsel for an estate party may recover fees incurred in defending a fee application. The panel also addresses continuing issues related to professional fees, including U.S. Trustee Fee Guidelines, big case fee guidelines, and the approval of national billing rates in jurisdictions where local rates are much lower.